Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: In Matthew chapter 2, we see the fulfillment of four unusual prophecies surrounding the birth of Christ. At first, maybe they seem to contradict one another, but in this study on Thru the Bible, Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to show that each one is literally and beautifully fulfilled. I'm Steve Schwetz, and as you grab your seat on the Bible bus, Greg and I have got some time to talk about how God's word is going out this time in India.

Greg: And Steve, we're going to talk about a language that I don't think I've even ever had this word cross my lips: the Garo language in India. Now, I know I saw these folks because about a year ago I was in India and saw the celebration of the whole 150—they literally, imagine that, 150 languages in their tribal dress, and you've seen some of this—came across the stage. But we're talking about a language group spoken by over 1.1 million people in a variety of Indian states as well as parts of Bangladesh. This is so exciting. I seriously doubt there's any good Bible teaching in the Garo language.

Steve Schwetz: 1.1 million may sound like a big number, but when you push it against English where there's a billion-plus people, or Mandarin at 1.1 billion that speak it, this is a micro-language, really. And like you said, there's very little Bible teaching. We just know that because it's such a small field, but the responses that we get when we go into people's heart languages—yes, we could do Hindi, yes, we could do English there—but Garo for 1.1 million people, that's their mother tongue. That's where the gospel speaks the strongest.

Greg: We talk about flinging the seed, and we talk about the biblical paradigm of fishing. You want to fish where no one else is fishing, and so we're so thrilled. Let's hear some amazing, wonderful testimonies here.

Steve Schwetz: This first one comes from Pranesh in Tripura, who tells us how God's word brought peace to his family. It starts out, "I was addicted to alcohol, smoking, and other bad habits. I used to drink and fight with my family members and there was no peace in my life or in my family. Many times, I even thought about divorcing my wife. One day, while attending church, my local pastor encouraged me to form a new home group. Without fully understanding what it involved, I agreed and later received a media player kit.

At first, I didn't know what to do with the kit or what I would be listening to. However, when we began meeting and listening to the program in Garo, I started liking it. As I continued listening, I became deeply interested in God's word. Earlier, I was addicted to worldly pleasures, but now God has changed me and made me hungry for His word. I truly believe that God is good, loving, and caring. I sincerely thank God and your ministry for providing this program and leading me onto the right path that God desires for my life."

Greg: I think we all have times in our lives when we feel like life—there's a lot of drudgery in life. But all of us—and that includes you, if you're listening, if you're supporting, if you pray for Thru the Bible, if you share Thru the Bible with others—you're part of this. You were part of reaching this man. And what struck me, this guy was in church, Steve. You don't have to clean up your act to go to church, but this man needed a lot of help and it was the teaching of Thru the Bible that really helped him break through.

Steve Schwetz: And I would say if you maybe think, "I could never lead a small group myself," this guy was, by his own admission, addicted to alcohol, smoking, and other bad habits. He clearly had some issues in his life and he wasn't perfect. So you, my friend, are probably in a better position than this guy. You could take a Bible companion on the book of Matthew, listen to it, and just lead a group discussion with other sinners like yourself and see what God does in your life and in the life of those around you.

Greg: I love that. I love that you challenged people to do that. And I would encourage if you're listening to Steve and you say, "All right, I'm going to give that a shot," get a Bible companion. You get them for free on our website, ttb.org, or you can order them. We basically sell them to you at cost; they're not expensive. Start a group and let us know how it went.

Steve Schwetz: We'd love to hear your story. Greg, why don't you pray for us as we begin?

Greg: Father, we do pray that someone listening or many people listening would just take your word and share it with people through the ministry of Thru the Bible. We thank you that you've given us this opportunity to fling the seed of your word all over the world to remote places like India and even to our own neighborhoods. We pray now as Dr. McGee teaches us that you will transform our hearts and minds as we study your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Steve Schwetz: Let's open to Matthew 2 as Dr. J. Vernon McGee takes us through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We come to the second chapter of Matthew. If you have your Bible, turn there, and we'll put in at verse 12. You'll recall that we mentioned chapter 2 shows the fulfillment of four prophecies that geographically seem very difficult of ever being fulfilled. He's to be born in Bethlehem; we saw that took place. He's to be called out of Egypt; we are yet to see that. There was weeping in Rama—Rama is north of Jerusalem—and He’s called a Nazarene. How could all of these be fulfilled? They were literally fulfilled in the life of our Lord.

The wise men who went to Bethlehem to see Him after they had presented their gifts and had worshiped Him—and I’d call attention to that—in verse 11 it says, "they fell down and worshipped Him," not them. And they presented unto Him gifts. The gold, as we said, speaks of who He is, His birth. Frankincense speaks of His life, the fragrance of His life down here. Myrrh speaks of His death. We called attention to Isaiah 66 where it says when He comes the second time again, wise men are coming with gifts, this time gold and frankincense, because when He comes the next time, He comes to reign and not to die.

Verse 12 says, "And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And when they were departed, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, 'Arise, take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.'" The wise men assumed that Herod was sincere when he said he wanted to know about the child and he'd come down and worship him.

If he came down, he would slay the child, of course. Had not the angel of the Lord warned them, the wise men would have gone back by Jerusalem and given the good news to Herod and he would have killed the child. Now we find that they are alerted and they go another direction to their own country. They could continue south down to Hebron and then cross over the south of the Dead Sea. They'd be out of the range of Herod altogether.

The angel of the Lord also appeared to Joseph and told him it's time now to get out of Bethlehem because Herod is going to attempt to kill the child. And now Joseph took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. He was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." That's Hosea 11:1. That's a marvelous prophecy because it has a historical basis. Out of Egypt the son was called, which was the nation. And out of Egypt the son was called who is a person. This person here, this is the prophecy. He went down there and stayed. Joseph did, and took the young child and the mother.

Verse 16: "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." Part of what I'm going to say now is supposition, but part, of course, is based upon good solid fact here. We made the statement before that the wise men did not arrive at the same time that the shepherds did. The wise men came later.

In a church pageant, down one aisle the shepherds come and down the other aisle the wise men come. They didn't get that close together and they didn't come at the same time. The wise men arrived, and we found out last time, in verse 11, when they were come into the house. They'd moved into the house by then. When Herod had inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, I suppose that they said it was about a year ago. These wise men came from all quarters of the East, and I think they met in a certain place and then made their trek across the desert and came to Jerusalem.

That would consume a great deal of time. In that day, they didn't travel by jet; they traveled by camel. Some camels have one hump and some have two humps. At best, it'll be the one-cylinder or two-cylinder job, so they didn't get there until quite a bit afterward. Herod had asked when they saw the star, but when he slays all the children in that area from two years old and under, I would say this—and this is the part that's supposition—Herod is so angry, and he's actually mad by the way, that the wise men didn't come back and tell him.

He sees that he's been taken in by the wise men, that they were not cleverer than he thought they were, but they had a message from the Lord because they would have gone by and told him. But now in his anger, I think just doubled, he said, "Well, if they said it was a year ago they saw the star, we'll just double it and make it two years and kill all the children under two years." And now we're told in verse 17: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet saying, 'In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not.'"

This is an unusual prophecy also. Jeremiah didn't say, "In Bethlehem was there a voice heard." Was there a voice heard in Bethlehem? I think so. But Jeremiah had said, "In Rama," and that was up in his country, by the way. Rama's just about as far north of Jerusalem as Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem. Again, I rather think that when the soldiers said or the captain said to Herod, "Whereabouts do you want me to begin? And what about slaying these children? What area?" Old Herod said, "Just draw a circle around Jerusalem and make the radius of it as far south as Bethlehem and go north as far."

It included Rama in the north. Rama wasn't even involved in it. So you see that Herod slew a great many children. You can imagine the weeping in the Jerusalem area all the way from Bethlehem to Rama. That would be a radius of about 10, 12 miles and it would be 20 to 25 miles across that area. So it must have been a time of great weeping on the part of these people when they lost their little ones. This prophecy was literally fulfilled.

Now we are told in verse 19: "But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt." I must call attention to this: we're told that the angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob at Peniel and now it's an angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ. But you see, He's gone down now to Egypt. When Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, "Arise, take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child's life."

It's essential to get Him out of the land of Egypt, back up into that land. The most important reason is that He has been born under the law, and He is to live under the Mosaic Law. He's the only one who really ever kept it. We find that He's to come back therefore and get out from under the influence of Egypt because, again, He's not to be raised down there as Moses had been raised and as the children of Israel had become a nation down there. He's told, "Arise, take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child's life."

He arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. When he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod—and by the way Archelaus, another Herod, very brutal—he was afraid to go thither. Notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

You find that is a fulfillment and actually here the *netzer* or the branch or the root, as it were, is Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 53:2, or Psalm 22:6. All of that you have in this term Nazarene. But you see, He's given the term not only because He's a root out of the stem of Jesse, but He's brought up in Nazareth and He's called a Nazarene, which fulfills the prophecy. All of these four scriptural locations are fulfilled. It's as it were that He touched the base in all of these places and what seemed a rather strange prophecy becomes now a reality, a very sane reality, and it was fulfilled in a very normal way.

That brings us, friends, to the third chapter of the gospel of Matthew. Now we are introduced to John the Baptist, the forerunner of the king. He announces the kingdom and baptizes Jesus, the king. We have therefore a very remarkable chapter here and the kingdom of heaven will come before us again. I want to turn now and read verse 1, chapter 3 of Matthew: "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

All of a sudden on the page of scripture walks John the Baptist. If we only had Matthew's gospel, we'd ask the question: where'd he come from? What's his background? Matthew gives us none of that and the reason is obvious. To begin with, he was to be announced; Malachi said that the messenger would come ahead to tell about the coming of the king. He says, "I send my messenger." This messenger was John the Baptist. A messenger is not one that you need to know about his background at all. John the Baptist was a messenger.

When the Western Union boy brings a message to your door, do you say to him, "Young man, did your ancestors come over on the Mayflower? What is your background?" You're not interested in that; you're interested in his message. The message is all-important and that's what you want. You thank the boy, probably give him a tip and dismiss him. You're through with him. John the Baptist makes it very clear that he was just the messenger and Matthew's making that clear too. Therefore, he just walks out on the page of scripture, comes preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying—and this is his message—"Repent ye."

It's a message of repentance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I think probably that we ought to deal with these two expressions that are very important: "Repent ye" and "the kingdom of heaven." And I think probably "is at hand." These are all very important. Repent is an expression that's always been given to God's people to turn around. Repent means it's *metanoia*, it means change your mind. It means you're going in one direction, turn around, go another direction. I think it's primarily for saved people, that is for God's people in any age, repentance.

They are the ones that if they're going to have revival and they're cold and indifferent, they've got to turn. That was the message to the seven churches in Asia, as we saw some time ago, and it was the message of the Lord Jesus. Somebody says, "Well, isn't the unsaved supposed to repent?" Not the way you think of it. He's told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said to the Philippian jailer, and that old rascal needed to do some repenting. But you see, in faith, there is repentance.

You see, faith means you turn to Christ. Now when you turn to Christ, you turn from something. If you don't turn from something, you don't turn to Him. So repentance is in the word believe today and I think that's the primary message that should be given to the lost today: to believe. A great many people like to do something; they like to put up their hand, they like to come forward in a meeting, they like to do something. We've encouraged that, by the way.

But to me, the most impressive thing is to stay right there in your seat, right where you are, and if you've made a decision, record it by writing it. But even signing a card doesn't save you. The important thing is to trust Christ as your Savior. If you've really done it, if you've turned to Him, you've turned from something. Now the expression "kingdom of heaven," we've talked about that before. That's the rule of the heavens over the earth and the Lord Jesus is the king. You can't have a kingdom without a king and you can't have a king without a kingdom.

What king was it that says, "My kingdom for a horse"? If he traded in his kingdom for a horse, he's not a king; all he is is a man on horseback. You have to have a king to have the kingdom. Now what did he mean, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? The kingdom of heaven is present in the person of the king and that is it. Somebody says, "Isn't there a present reality of the kingdom of heaven?" Yes, those who come to Him as Savior and acknowledge Him are translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. They belong to Him now.

But they have a more intimate relationship than a subject of the king; they're now part of the bride. Somebody says, "Well, they're to carry out his commands." They're more than that. I say to you, they are to do it because they love Him. He says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." So the kingdom of heaven is the rule of the heaven over the earth. That's not in existence today. Any man that makes that kind of a statement, must be something wrong with his thinking or he must be totally ignorant of the world we live in.

He's not reigning today in any form, shape, or fashion, only in the hearts of those who accept Him. They're the only ones. Now, he's coming someday to establish his kingdom on the earth. When he does, he'll put down the rebellion, and believe me he's going to put it down. The kingdom of heaven was present in the person of the king and that was the only way it was. Now he says, "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias," that is Isaiah and you'll find it in Isaiah 40:3.

You see how Matthew keeps telling us everything that he's recording is in fulfillment of prophecy, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." That's all that John the Baptist claimed for himself: he was a voice crying in the wilderness. Now he says, "And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey." He's a strange individual, isn't he?

Talk about one following a diet and one dressing very unusually. I hate to say this, but I want to tell you John would probably qualify in his looks as a hippie. Just look at this: the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, his leathern girdle was about his loins, his meat was locusts and wild honey. And we're told he never shaved: long hair. This is the man, unusual man, and a man with a mission. He's an Old Testament character, walks out of the Old Testament onto the page of the New Testament. He's the last of the Old Testament prophets.

Now we're going to see something about him as we go through. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan. They went out to him. He did not rent a stadium or an auditorium or a church, and there was no committee that invited him. He didn't come to town at all; you want to hear John, you went out to where he was. I tell you, the Spirit of God was on this man and they were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins.

In other words, all of this denoted a change in the lives of these people. The very fact of the baptism was their leaving the old life and now turning to a new one. Now notice something else, verse 7: "And when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism"—and notice who was coming—he said unto them—now this is no way to greet these dignified visitors, listen to him—"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

Suppose your preacher got up next Sunday morning and said, "O generation of vipers." The deacons would be looking for another preacher, I imagine. I say this is really strong language and he's talking to the dignified Pharisees and Sadducees. He cries out to them, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." In other words, you've got to demonstrate this. You just don't go through the act of baptism; you have to present fruit in your life.

Now he says, "And think not to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham to our father,' for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." That, my friend, was a strong statement he made there. You can understand why he was not elected the most popular man of the year in Judea. We're going to have to leave off right there today. And so until next time, may the Lord richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Go deeper in your personal study of God's word by checking out the resources in our app or at ttb.org. Or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find something specific. Well, our journey through the New Testament book of Matthew continues, so hop aboard the Bible bus next time. Our story on the Bible bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire word of God. Come along for the ride and you'll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God's great redemption story. Is this your story too? I hope it is. See you next time.